Procrastination: It's a Good Thing
One reason so many people fail to keep, or even start, their New Year resolutions is procrastination. Most of us, myself included, are procrastinators to one degree or another. I’d venture to say that some of the most accomplished people I know are procrastinators. So is procrastination really such a bad thing?
There’s certainly no shortage of articles published on how to cure the problem of procrastination. But I would argue that, except in extreme cases, curing procrastination may be undesirable if not impossible. Think about it. At any given moment, there are any number of things we could be working on. And no matter which we choose, it will be to the exclusion of all the others. So the question becomes not how to avoid procrastination, but how to procrastinate well. With me so far?
Expanding on this concept, let’s postulate there are three types of procrastination depending on what you choose to work on. You could either work on (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important. The last type, I’d argue, is good procrastination.
Consider the absent-minded professor who forgets to shave, eat or perhaps even notice where he’s going because he’s thinking about something more important. His mind is absent from the everyday world because it’s hard at work in another. That’s the sense in which I referred to accomplished people being procrastinators. I’ll call them Type-C procrastinators. They put off working on small things in order to work on more important things.
What are small things? Well, sometimes it’s hard to say at the time, but a list might include things like doing the laundry or cleaning the house, things that would more correctly be classified as errands. Good procrastination is avoiding errands in favor of more important work. Errands interrupt creative productivity. Still with me?
The most dangerous form of procrastination is unacknowledged Type-B because it doesn’t feel like procrastination. You’re getting things done, just the wrong things. In fact, any advice about procrastination that concentrates on crossing things off your to-do list is not only incomplete, but positively misleading if it doesn’t consider the possibility that the to-do list is itself a form of Type-B procrastination. In fact, possibility is too timid a word. Unless you’re working on the biggest things you could be working on, you’re Type-B procrastinating no matter how much you’re getting done.
Here’s the bottom line. People who’ve managed to make themselves work on big things all blow off errands and, surprisingly, all feel guilty about it. I don’t think they should feel guilty; there’s more to do than anyone possibly could. But realistically, someone doing the best work they can is inevitably going to leave a lot of errands undone. It seems a mistake to feel bad about that, don’t you agree? Instead, let delight pull you instead of letting a to-do list push you. Work on an ambitious project you really enjoy, sail as close to the wind as you can and you’ll leave the right things undone.
You can read more about procrastination here, here and here. You may also find it interesting to take this short quiz to evaluate whether you’re a procrastinator and, if so, why you procrastinate and what areas of your life are most affected.
Doug
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Reader Comments (8)
I will have to think about this. I always make lists and I do feel productive when I cross a lot of things off. But I have to admit that I also put easy things on the list and, because they are easy, they are the first things I do and cross off. And as long as I am being introspective about this, I recognize that I usually have tasks that don't get checked off because they are usually the difficult or unpleasant ones.
I don't like to think of myself as a "type-B procrastinator" but if what you say is true then I am afraid I am! However, I have to have lists. Otherwise, important tasks will get overlooked or forgotten. So I suppose the answer (I am thinking as I type) is to have two lists: one containing only major tasks, the ones I try to avoid, and the second with "errands". And then I would work only on the first, even if I never get to the second.
That makes sense to me. But I know it would mean that I would never get to the errands. I know you will say "so what" but I think there needs to be some kind of balance, don't you?
Sorry, I didn't mean to write another article. It is just a hard pill to swallow.
I think you've got a handle on it, Sara. If you only work on the "most important" vs. the "most urgent" (there is a difference) or the "easy to do and check off" errands, you will accomplish much more in your day, your job, your life.
I agree that many of the "errands" we all must attend to would, under strict adherence to this concept, never get done. In a work environment, they would be delegated. In a household they might also be delegated or otherwise shared. But it's clear that some "balance" would be appropriate.
I like your two-lists thought pattern. Maybe you allow 3/4 of the work day to list 1 and the other 1/4 to list 2. But I think you get my point. If you work first on list 2, it's the list 1 items that remain undone. In the long run, at least in business, ignoring list 1 in order to work on list 2 will yield poor results.
The idea that one should abandon lists is flawed in that, as Sara points out, one would be unable to remember what tasks required attention, let alone which are of priority.
Lists are necessary if one is to keep track of what needs done. The key is learning to prioritize tasks. There are even software that aid in prioritization.
I guess I am a Type 2 procrastinater. I do lists all the time and I put things on there that I know will only take 2 minutes to do just so I can cross them off. When I don't get the stuff I should have, I feel ok about it because I crossed off a bunch of other things.
I think I like what everybody says. I just need to make 2 sections on my list, one for the real important stuff and the other for the errands. The hard part will be making myself work off the important section and not be tempted to do the other section because it is easier.
Thanks to all of you. This makes perfect sense to me!
I guess I am a B-procrastinator too. But you have to have lists. If you didn't, you would never remember all the things you need to do. Software works best. It allows you to set a priority on things so the highest priority things are always at the top. If you work on them and ignore the things at the bottom of the list, only the less important things get missed.
If there is one resolution I make this year it will be to get more important things done. I think I will still use the list approach but I like the idea of 2 lists or maybe 2 sections on the list, 1 for important things and 1 for errands. I will check out the T0 Do function on my Treo. I have never even looked at it.
You have me motivated! I will RULE my 2008!
I am also making a huge effort to be better organized this year. And the list divided into two parts sounds perfect. Like Becka said, I think it will be really hard to not head for the errands list. It will get longer and longer so I will need to do some of the things on it. Maybe once a week I will just do errands and the rest of the time just to important things off the main list.
I think that sounds like a good balance. Let me know how you do!
Doug